April 2010

04/29/2010

Can Arizona get away with this? Only if the cops don't act like Gestapo but a few will and the whole concept will go down the toilet. Still the law is too controversial to stand because it steps on a lot of toes and potentially can and will violate the civil rights of many people. It should be repealed.

At least two seasoned archaeologists who have made numerous expeditions to Mount Ararat in search of Noah's Ark are throwing cold water on this week's claim the Old Testament vessel has finally been discovered, saying it's a hoax involving wood hauled in from the Black Sea region.

"To make a long story short: this is all reported to be a fake," said Randall Price, director of Judaic Studies at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.

"This is not Noah's Ark," adds Bob Cornuke of the Bible Archaeology Search and Exploration Institute. "This is a fake. It's a fraud and it's of the highest caliber according to what I can assess from the evidence and talking to eyewitnesses and people from Turkey."

04/28/2010

High court supports Mojave cross in Calif.

By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court said Wednesday that a lower court went too far in ordering the removal of a congressionally endorsed war memorial cross from its longtime home atop a remote outcropping in California.

Signaling support for keeping the cross, the justices ordered the federal court in California to look again at Congress' plan to transfer a patch of federal land beneath it into private hands.

The lower court had barred the land transfer as insufficient to eliminate concern about a religious symbol on public land — in this case, the Mojave National Preserve

04/27/2010

By Michael Cohen

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

While a frequent flurry of Sarah Palin sound bites and Michael Steele gaffes dominate the hype surrounding the Republican party's leadership void, many point to New Jersey's Governor Chris Christie as a serious potential leader of the GOP.

Since his first budget address on March 16th, conservatives have applauded Christie's adamancy of spending cuts, and they particularly admire his battle with the state's teachers union over $820 million in state education cuts.

Meet stunning Americans looking to dethrone Pelosi

Contenders include combat vets, beauty queen, scientist, surgeon

Posted: April 26, 20109:28 p.m. Eastern

What do more than 25 returning combat veterans, a beauty queen, a general surgeon, a scientist, talk-radio hosts, a political analyst, a former welfare mom and Richard Nixon's grandson have in common?

Most have never held political office – none are garden-variety politicians – but they're all determined to take back Congress this year from the hands of incumbents who they believe do not represent America's best interests.

In what appears to be a honeybee mystery of Armageddon proportions that has baffled scientists and beekeepers, more than one-third of the nation's commercial honeybee population is mysteriously disappearing – and researchers warn the unexplained phenomenon threatens one-third of the American diet.

04/25/2010

A Republican senator is questioning General Motors’ claim that it has repaid its taxpayer-funded loans in full.

Sen. Chuck Grassley is asking Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to justify those claims. According to the Iowa Republican, GM has repaid its TARP (taxpayer-funded bailout) loans using other TARP funds.

The automaker – which is 61 percent owned by the U.S. and 12 percent owned by Canada -- announced on Wednesday that it has fully repaid the $6.7-billion in loans it received from the U.S. and Canadian governments.

Former New York Gov. George Pataki is leading a national effort to repeal Obamacare.

In an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV, Pataki said he is launching the effort because the recent healthcare plan signed into law by President Barack Obama imposes the heavy hand of the federal government into the healthcare decisions of all Americans, contrary to the great traditions of the United States.

The popular conservative Republican who was thrice elected to the Empire State’s governorship, has just launched a new organization, RevereAmerica.org, a group Pataki says is aimed at promoting American traditions such as personal freedom and free enterprise.

04/24/2010

Yesterday, Camden County government announced a proposed furlough program for all non-public safety county employees beginning in July and continuing through the end of the year.

We regret having to take this step, and hope we can manage with fewer than 14 furlough days, but the tough economic times, cuts in state funding, decreased revenues and fees and increased costs (a $5 million increase in employee benefits costs alone) have created a $24 million budget gap. We have a variety of options for dealing with this gap, but we can’t do it without tough measures and a shared burden of sacrifice. We have a great tradition of finding ways to save money, through reducing the workforce by 600 jobs over the past five years, using a Transformation Initiative to cut costs and share services within the county and with municipalities, and negotiating with our labor unions to get employees to pay a portion of their benefits costs.

We always see our primary functions as delivering services to constituents and protecting taxpayers. We need to make tough choices now for the 2010 budget and looking ahead to the 2011 budget, which will be even tougher. We want to protect taxpayers, but we also want a shared burden for employees, with elected officials and management sharing in the sacrifice through furloughs. These furloughs will save more than $1.5 million and, as importantly, will prevent 200 layoffs, which is what it would take, at mid-year, to achieve this kind of cost savings.

We will be sharing more information as we prepare to present the 2010 budget in May. To be fully informed, visit our website at www.camdencounty.com, or sign up for our email blasts to receive updates.

We believe it’s important for you to know not only what we’re doing, but why we’re doing it. We know this year will be a tough challenge, but we look forward to getting through it together.